In Myanmar, UK Is Major Investor in Oil and Gas While at UN Demanding No Business As Usual

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 17 --  "It can't be business as usual in Burma," U.K. Ambassador John Sawers intoned in front of the UN Security Council on Thursday, referring to the "demonstrations of last September and their brutal repression" and the "concerns of the international community." Inner City Press asked Ambassador Sawers, speaking of business as usual," for the UK's view of investment in Myanmar, by India and specifically by UK-based companies. "Our investment in Burma has gone down sharply in recent years," Amb. Sawers replied. "There is now very limited British investment." Video here, from Minute 1:08.

            But the Burmese government reported in November 2007 that "of the total $471.48 million investment in the oil and gas sector, the largest share -- $240.68 million -- came from the United Kingdom." If the UK's investments in Myanmar's petro-carbons went "down sharply in recent years" to reach this elevated level, there is a substantial gap between talk and action, rhetoric and the world.

During protests in Rangoon

            Despite the Security Council's wan press statement, with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the gap appears to be between what he says privately and what he says when the cameras are on. At Thursday's stakeout, Inner City Press asked Gambari about India's investment in a port in Myanmar.  Inner City Press asked before the camera for his view on the port investment. Video here, from Minute 5:52. Gambari painted a different picture, under which while Myanmar might exercise influence over India, it could also work the other way around. He added that India is starting with the second, and "we'll have to see as to the first." That other opinions have been expressed with cameras off may not now matter. He has called this investment, which many call standardless, a move in the right direction. Can you say, business as usual? As Mr. Gambari put it, "we'll have to see."

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Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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